64 HOW PLANTS ARE PROPAGATED. 
192. This is a complete and regular, yet simple flower; and will serve as a pat- 
tern, with which a great variety of flowers may be compared. 
193. When we wish to designate the 
leaves of the blossom by one word, we call 
them the Perianth . This name is formed 
of two Greek words meaning “ around the 
flower.” It is convenient to use in cases 
where (as in the Lilies, illustrated on the 
first page) we are not sure at first view 
whether the leaves of the flower are calyx 
or corolla, or both. 
194. A Petal is sometimes to be distin- 
guished into two parts ; its Blade , like the 
blade of a leaf, and its Claw , which is a 
kind of tapering base or foot of the blade. 
More commonly there is only a blade ; but 
the petals of Roses have a very short, nar- 
row base or claw; those of Mustard, a 
longer one ; those of Pinks and the like, a 
narrow claw, which is generally longer than 
the blade (Fig. 308). 
195. A Stamen , as we have already learned (15, 17), generally consists of two 
parts ; its Filament and its Anther . But the filament is only a kind of footstalk, 
no more necessary to a stamen than a petiole is to a leaf. It is therefore sometimes 
very short or wanting ; when the anther is sessile . The anther is the essential part. 
Its use, as we know, is to produce pollen. 
196. The Pollen is the matter, looking like dust, which is shed 
from the anthers when they open (Fig. 159). Here is a grain of 
pollen, a single particle of the fine powder shed by the anther of a 
Mallow, as seen highly magnified. In this plant the grains are beset 
with bristly points ; in many plants they are smooth ; and they differ Poiien-gram. 
greatly in appearance, size, and shape in different species, but are all just alike in 
the same species ; so that the family a plant belongs to can often be told by seeing 
only a grain of its pollen. The use of the pollen is to lodge on the stigma of the 
pistil, where it grows in a peculiar way, its inner coat projecting a slender thread 
153 
Petal. Stamen. Pistil. Pistil. Stamen. Petal. 
